Lilly announces partnership with Incyte

Lilly has announced the establishment of a partnership with fellow pharmaceutical firm Incyte, which will see the two companies collaborate to produce JAK1/JAK2, the compound INCB28050 and other treatments for inflammatory and autoimmune diseases.

Under the terms of the agreement, Lilly will receive worldwide rights to develop and commercialise INCB28050 – which is currently undergoing trials for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis – as an oral treatment for all inflammatory conditions.

Incyte will receive an initial payment of $90 million (56.42 million pounds) and is eligible for up to $665 million in further potential development milestones.

Eiry Roberts, vice-president of autoimmune product development at Lilly, said: “This new alliance with Incyte reinforces Lilly’s commitment to expand our presence in inflammation and autoimmunity through the development of a new class of oral anti-inflammatory therapies.”

In other Lilly news, last week the organisation, along with exisiting partners Alkermes and Amylin, announced positive results from a comparative study between exenatide once weekly and BYETTA (exenatide).